VI.                    Who Gets Appointed

1.         The president rarely knows more than a few of the people that he appoints and is lucky if more than a most of them agree with his decisions, and most cabinet members come from private business, universities, “think tanks,” foundations, law firms, labor unions, and other private sectors where they have not really worked with the president on many, if any matters.

                                                                i.      However, the men and women appointed to cabinet and sub-cabinet positions usually have SOME prior federal experience; they usually alternate between gov’t jobs and jobs in the private sector (usually law).

a.         In a parliamentary system, cabinet officers are typically full-time politicians.

                                                               ii.      Cabinet members used to be very powerful, but now, they are more likely to be experts in a certain field and not necessarily staunch party powers (due to weakening of political parties).

2.         The president wants to appoint cabinet members who are experts in their respective fields, but he also wants to recognize various politically important groups, regions, and organizations.

                                                                i.      i.e. have minorities and other groups in cabinet positions too.

                                                               ii.      There is a rivalry between the White House staff, which sees itself as extensions of the president and his opinions, and the department heads, which see themselves as repositories of expert knowledge.

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